GOOD FRIDAY: The day our sin was judged on the cross

An incredibly painful trial is happening in our corner of Pennsylvania. Its outcome carries the very likely death penalty. When we recall the events that took place on Good Friday, we can list the events of that day like the events around the September 2014 death of a State Police Officer and the significant wounding of his colleague in a sniper-like attack. We say Jesus is nailed to the cross, Roman soldiers gamble for His garments, and darkness covers the land. We include the crown of thorns, the earthquake, and Jesus’ mother watching with heartbreak and horror.

There is something else. No matter how many visible details we recount of the day, this is what we do not see: sin is judged on the cross.

In giving His first command in the garden of Eden, God warns that disobedience carries the death penalty (Gen. 2:17). God’s judgment of sin is clear from the start.

Bump this ahead a few thousand years. Recall the Jewish life. An elaborate sacrificial system is established for those who worship Yahweh. For the good Jew, each sinful transgression requires an animal’s blood to be sprinkled on the altar. This foreshadows our Lamb of God who would come to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Jesus Christ is—on the cross—what a lamb is on the altar with one significant difference: every time a sin is committed under the old covenant, another animal dies. With Jesus, our Savior willingly offers Himself once and for all to atone for the sins for all of us through all time (Heb. 7:27).

Today, no one knows exactly what will happen with the trial I mentioned here in Pennsylvania. But we do know the outcome of our trial. Jesus Christ paid for our sins in full.

Please know Him. Please thank Him.

Dear Lord,

You saved a wretch like me. Your death is my eternal life, and I’m grateful.